The father of a teenager hit with a baseball bat and left for dead on his high school field said he cannot accept the killer?s apology.
Kevin Klink, 19, of Columbia, a former Oakland Mills High School wrestling champion, was sentenced Tuesday in Howard Circuit Court to 13 years in prison for killing former Mount Hebron High School student Robert Brazell Jr., 18, with an aluminum baseball bat.
“It was an apology ? the first I?ve heard ? and I don?t know how to take it,” said Robert Brazell Sr., who took his son, “Robby,” off life support in the days following the Feb. 24, 2007, melee between Mount Hebron and Hammond students at Mount Hebron?s football field.
“I can?t say I accept it. … He was my only son, my only blood. He was going to carry on our name,” he said.
“At the end of the day, [Klink?s] parents are still going to see him, and we?re not going to see Robby anymore.”
Klink, known for his athleticism, appeared frail and somber in a black suit. He hung his head before the packed courtroom, but looked to Brazell?s family when speaking.
“I never intended or hoped for this to happen in any way possible,” Klink said.
Circuit Judge Lenore Gelfman heard from the parents of both teens before handing down the sentence.
Klink?s mother, Patricia McAleer, said her son was close to becoming an Eagle Scout, and the incident was a “senseless act of violence” that he regrets.
Brazell Sr., who struggled to keep his voice steady, smiled slightly, saying Robby lives on through the five people who received his organs.
Prosecutors spoke on behalf of Leslie Brazell, Robby?s mother, saying Robby “is and always will be a dying hero” who gave his liver to a 7-month-old girl dying from a liver condition.
Gelfman said it was “a trulyunhappy day” before sentencing Klink to the maximum time for each charge. He must serve at least 50 percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Prosecutors reduced Klink?s original first-degree murder charge because witnesses said he was acting in defense of a friend being beaten by Brazell.
Defense attorney Sam Truette said Klink is ashamed and “went [to the fight] more out of curiosity, and more to posture then to engage.”
A crowd of teenage boys slapped high-fives and hugged outside the courtroom, saying only that they were friends and family of Robby.
Assistant State?s Attorney Danielle Duclaux said she has no idea what motivated the fight except a skirmish between students about a week earlier.
“It happened for nothing,” she said. “It was all the result of young men not knowing any better, alcohol being involved and trying to prove something.”
